The Top 5 Conscientious CPG Companies

There’s no shortage of consumer packaged goods companies that are doing their bit to help make the planet a better place for us to live, but the five companies profiled below are doing an especially stellar job in that department.

From ambitious goals to achieve net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions to innovative consumer-facing campaigns, Hormel Foods, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Stonyfield, and Unilever have all placed more earth-friendly policies at the center of what they do. Such moves by these companies and many others are in direct response to consumers’ evolving attitudes toward sustainability. According to a recent report from on-demand consumer research program Glow, a Nielsen IQ partner, shoppers are increasingly “shedding the brands that don’t meet their sustainability expectations, and moving to brands that better align with their values.”

Glow adds that younger consumers in particular are switching brands at much higher rates than those of other demographics, with brands leading in environmental, social and governance perceptions benefiting the most. This propensity for switching to more sustainable brands is especially high within food and grocery. The consumer researcher uncovered rates of between 30% and 40% in food and grocery departments. The risk of switching was greatest in health and beauty, meat, beverages, and household products, but even among lower-risk categories like bakery and dairy, Glow cautions that “no business can risk losing up to a third of its customers!”

Given these figures, it’s imperative that companies get their sustainability stories out there, and all of the CPG businesses spotlighted by Progressive Grocer have done an admirable job of this. In fact, Dawn, a brand of Procter & Gamble, was identified as the most responsible food and grocery brand by consumers, according to Glow’s research, while Dove, manufactured by Unilever, came in fifth and Quaker, one of PepsiCo’s brands, was No. 10.

Hormel Foods Corp.

Last month, in a testament to its longstanding commitment to making the planet a better place to live, Hormel Foods Corp. was named to Barron’s list of the 100 most sustainable U.S. companies for 2023, coming in at No. 23. To come up with its sixth annual list, the business publication evaluated the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies across more than 200 environmental, social and governance performance indicators.

Through its award-winning Our Food Journey program, Austin, Minn.-based Hormel strives to produce food responsibly by investing in its people and partners, improving communities and the world, and creating products that enrich peoples’ lives. The company also has an ambitious set of corporate responsibility goals that it will aim to achieve by 2030, known as the 20 by 30 Challenge. This includes initiatives related to climate leadership, regenerative and sustainable agriculture, packaging sustainability, water stewardship, food security, and human rights.

“As a Fortune 500 global branded food company, we must take a leadership position in addressing climate change,” Tom Raymond, Hormel’s director of sustainability, tells Progressive Grocer. “One of our 20 by 30 challenge goals is our commitment to set a Science Based Target for the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions by 2023. We submitted our materials into the Science Based Targets Initiative for validation in mid-2022, and we are currently in the active validation period. We expect to have an aggressive goal set that will include targets for our emissions and our supply chain this year.”

Adds Raymond: “We know we have a responsibility to our team members, shareholders, customers, consumers and communities. In fact, our 20 by 30 challenge goals are some of the most robust in the industry, and we are working hard to achieve them. As a company, we remain committed to continuous improvement, and these 20 qualitative and quantitative goals and commitments will help make the world a better place for everyone.”